France Tour Reviews — 601 to 630 of 932

Beautiful chateaus. Great wine. Not allowed to drink in cabin. Cabin extremely small. Shower barely fit one person. Guide excellent. No sauna or hot tub. I would recommend this trip but not this boat (the Bordeaux).

The crew of the Feniks, provided the most amazing experience. The food simple satisfying and enjoyable. Food fresh, tasty, and cooked well by the Nelje. Marius and Reinhold, provided amazing care of all our needs The accommodation small, efficient and clean. You always slept well. The guide Nina with her amazing knowledge showed us her secret places, backroads, canal paths, and bike paths. She encouraged all riders while challenging us beyond what we thought we could do. As a experience it exceeded my expectations. Looking for a different French/Belgium experience do this trip you never forget it. Will do another trip this way, and if possible on the Feniks...

A great trip in many ways. Good staff - helpful and friendly. Good scenic route with chances to visit places of interest, very good food. Only draw back was problems with 3 out of 4 'E' bikes and a lack of expertise in how to fix them causing stress to some riders.

The time on the boat was fun and enjoyable. Your description of the bike ride being easy to moderate was way off. It should have been described as hard to difficult!! It was very misleading.

Awesome trip with a wonderful crew. The only misleading part was the description of easy to moderate biking. The hills of France made this trip more difficult than expected.

This is a fantastic tour in a very beautiful part of rural France. The hotel is very comfortable, consisting of a series of very old but beautifully restored buildings together with some sympathetically designed modern extensions. These include a covered pool and a large paved outdoor area shaded by the huge magnolias that give the hotel its name. The hotel has its own restaurant offering excellent food at very reasonable prices. The special dinner offered on Saturdays features regional produce and is worth far more than its E29 price tag.
There are a dozen or more excellent day rides that can be made using the hotel as a base. Your host Claudia will suggest rides to suit your interests and riding capabilities and will provide very clear maps and directions. However - be warned - the surrounding countryside is stunningly beautiful but there are hills! Unless you are a strong rider you may wish to consider the electric bike option that is available.
This is probably the best of the half dozen or so bike tours we have done in France and Italy. We will be back!

The crew on this barge and bike trip were outstanding. The weather was unseasonably hot and adjustments were made to the schedule to accommodate everyone's comfort. The route and attractions were well planned and interesting. We had some difficulty with the bikes provided by HAT tours - several (5 in total) punctures and one unfixable issue with a bike. This meant delays whilst the tiress were being repaired - approximately 1 hour per puncture. This meant that we missed out on seeing some of the attractions and had to cut short our time at others. The unfixable problem meant that one volunteer had to return to the boat via taxi and forego the rest of that day's itinerary. I would like to congratulate the crew on this tour as they did their utmost to ensure that these issues kept the disruption to a minimum. The group of travelers were also a very friendly and tolerant group of people who got on well. This also assisted in managing the issues with the bikes.
My recommendation to HAT tours is to provide maintenance support for the tour if they are going to continue to use these bikes. I have been on another company's bike and barge tour through Provence in 2014 and they had maintenance support which could be contacted promptly to fix and/or transport bikes/people when required.

Roman, Matilde and guide Ari, couldn't do enough to make welcome and please our entire group, especially during some minor technical difficulties that were not of their making. The quality of the bikes, whether due to model, age or degree of maintenance is something that our entire group of eighteen agreed is an area that could be looked at HAT tours; a lot of pressure fell upon the Anna Maria crew (especially Ari) to rectify faults not of their making. A less flexible and tolerant group of paying passengers might have made for an uncomfortable trip.

Most Memorable Part: The accommodations, the staff and of course cycling through all the beautiful country side.

Thoroughly enjoyed! Hotel staff were a wealth of knowledge and so friendly!

We had a great time riding through Bordeaux’s beautiful wine country. Our trip was enjoyable for our entire group of varying cycling abilities. The E-bikes made it easy for those that needed them. The staff was excellent and very personable. We were treated as art of the family. We are looking forward to our next cycling adventure.

Very nice tour following much of the Avenue Verte. Girolibero and Adriano were fantastic hosts on the unguided tour from Paris to London. The route was probably a little more unpaved then I expected an as such would not recommend bringing your own road bike to do the tour. We met and road with some amazing people from around the world making new friends and seeing areas that were amazing sites in the small villages and countryside.

The trip in Alsace, France was an amazing way to see the French countryside, wine region and the local community. The route choices were amazing, almost no cars the entire time and the hotels and restaurants were very aware of how the system worked and how to support us on our trip. I would highly recommend this trip to any expert cyclist.

Having a guide for this trip was very beneficial. For the first 3 days our guided group consisted of 30+ people. This was too large of a group and was pretty much a pain. We eventually broke into a group of 8 riders with Dorian as our guide, that was perfect. We were able to travel at a much more leisurely pace, visit many wineries, tasting rooms, small villages and churches.

Excellent routes, well marked and the Châteaus are breath taking. Make sure you have a rain coat.

Sailing into Paris in the seine was spectacular, what a way to get acquainted for the first time and also enjoy how Parisiennes live and play along the river. Make sure you bring your sunscreen.

The Loire environment was wonderful, and the well planned routes through the area, with so much off road or quiet road cycling was exceptional. The accommodation and overall organization was of excellent standard.
The one piece of feedback that you should receive concerning the bicycles is that they needed servicing. There was significant slippage of the gears throughout the trip, on both bicycles. This can very simply be fixed with appropriate servicing of the chain and rear cluster.

Much of the bike ride was difficult to navigate. Signs on the road are not always clear. Expected more country rides but much of the bike ride was through cities with many vehicles (somewhat dangerous). If we elect to travel with Tripsite again, we will do more research to determine ease of navigation along the bike route and how much of the route is through traffic.

The most memorable part for me was the camaraderie formed within the group. Mainly because our guide, Helmut, was so personable and caring. Also, Tripsite did a great job filling our time with memorable adventures. I'm so glad I chose to use an e-bike.

Our guide, Chris, was exceptionally talented. He answered questions clearly and completely, and he offered many interesting comments about the various sites we traveled through. Our captain, Connie, was also thoroughly competent and provided additional insight about our travels, especially thru the various locks. Meals were good. Breakfast was standard European and I appreciated their encouraging us to prepare sandwiches and snacks for lunch. Be aware that the instructions for meeting the tour bus from the train station, Gare du Nord, were incomplete: You have to continue walking about 100 meters on Rue de Maubeuge beyond Rue Ambroise Pare to find the bus. Also, this bike trip was considered "easy" based on the relatively flat terrain and modest miles ridden.
However, the paths were not always very smooth; we experienced rocky, bumpy, pitted and muddy roads for much of the trip. In general, however, this was a very memorable trip; I'd do it again!

The experience of being able to see the countryside, remote villages and sites at a slower pace with the experience and knowledge of a guide is the highlight. It is good to leave your luggage onboard the barge and know you return each evening to great food and rest.

It's a shame that the incompetence and the misogynistic attitude of one person can affect what could have been a fantastic trip, our guide on several occasions got lost and we ended up doing many more kilometres of riding including a very long and steep hill climb that we had to walk in the hot sun.
I can not praise the Captain and crew of the Zwaantjie more highly it's a shame he has no control over the guides that are allocated to various trips.

We were on this tour from June 16-23, 2018. First let me say that we had a fabulous time and I'll attempt to breakdown both the good and the challenging.
1. The boat was outstanding (5 star)
2. All the meals were nothing short of scrumptous (all three..every day) (5 Star)
3. The SE staff were knowledgable, polite and always willing to help. (5 Star)
4. Embarking and disembarking was seamless. (5 Star)
5. Our onboard guide was outgoing and fun to talk to. (5 Star)
6. The rooms were tight, but manageable. two single beds, good storage for your clothes and a small but efficient washroom.
7. The bikes were well serviced and enjoyable to ride. If you're not a seasoned cyclist, don't worry, the gears were easy to change and many of the people opted for the ebike option which really helped.
8. Biking directions were a challenge. At first we thought it was a language issue, but many of the German people were getting lost as well. We saw no vineyards, one castle, and we traveled through many cities. We had three in our group take spills, mainly because of the city routes we had to take. The "Look for Signs" were often non-existant or hard to find and we found that our group of 10 cyclists were spending too much time conferencing, trying to find the correct route.
Twice we encountered local people who actual lead us to get us back on track. This was definitely challenging, but boy did we bond!! We stopped in small towns having lunch in the town squares, trying local beers and cheeses. Restaurants willing to let us eat our bagged lunches in their restaurant when we bought some drinks.
Suggestions:
1. Arrive a couple of days early to explore Mainz, it's a beatiful city.
2. We flew in and out of Paris and the train system is amazing, but I would suggest closer Airports (Frankfurt to get to Mainz and Paris for Strasbourg).
3. Get comfortable being lost and embrace the journey. We always found our way and have some incredible stories about our rides.
4. Talk to the locals they are magnificent and were always willing to help.
The bottom line is that we are already planning our next bike and barge adventure, there are lots to choose.
My actual rating would be a 4.5 out of 5

The attentiveness and skill of the crew was most memorable. Chris was an awesome guide, encouraging everyone and being a wealth of knowledge about the environs. Conor was personable and available to share her knowledge and experience. Kim is a great cook and quite a character. Together, they overcame the limitation of an outdated too small barge to create an environment that allowed the riders to really enjoy the countryside and each other.

The routes were described well before each ride and usually easy to follow, however at least one person in your group should have a GPS. The guide and scenery were exceptional. The food was great but it was difficult getting vegetarian food for dinner even though I had requested vegetarian when I signed up.

The trip was amazing!! From pink Lakes, to Pink Flamingos, White Sandy Beaches, to the Punta Du Gard, Castles, Sunsets, Fields of Lavender, and Van Gough. This trip was a feast for the senses. What a fun trip. I've already booked my next one. This was excellent!!

Overall the trip was great. Route was rated as easy, but it was a little more difficult than expected. Lots of traffic in Paris and trails and streets were often more like off-road or mountain biking. That should be made clear from the beginning.

This tour of the Seine was delightful. The boat and crew were top notch. Our guide was extremely knowledgeable about the history and bike routes of the area. And the weather was c'est bon. It was the trip of a lifetime.

It was absolutely amazing from start to finish. The weather was warm, sunny, and perfect for biking. The country roads, surrounded with miles of vineyards, and the canal bike paths were beautiful. The small towns and villages were charming and delightful destinations; there was always an old castle or church to explore. The picnic lunch that we packed each morning allowed us to experience a variety of "picnic" spots. One day we were on the steps of the University of Bordeaux; another day sitting along the Garonne River in St. Macaire.

The boat, with just our family plus another couple, was terrific. We got to know the crew quite well-- actually, all on the boat became one big family. It was the trip of a life-time for all 15 of us. Everyday a grandchild would come up to me and say, "Mema, this is the best trip I've ever been on. I am having so much fun." From the youngest, at age 12, to the oldest at 78, we are left with memories that will never be forgotten.

The Italian barge staff and guide Carlos made the group feel like family. We laughed so much every day. It was sad to leave at the end of the week. Cycling, scenery was all very nice.